IN THE WEEK PAST: Iyamulemye reappointed UCDA boss

Nov 21, 2021

He thanked the new UCDA board chaired by Dr Charles Mugoya and the minister of agriculture for putting their trust in him to serve the coffee industry again.

IN THE WEEK PAST: Iyamulemye reappointed UCDA boss

NewVision Reporter
Journalist @NewVision

Dr Emmanuel Iyamulemye has vowed to transform the coffee sector two days after he was reappointed as the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) executive director.

"Our main focus is to export value-added coffee so that farmers earn more," he told New Vision this Wednesday.

He thanked the new UCDA board chaired by Dr Charles Mugoya and the minister of agriculture for putting their trust in him to serve the coffee industry again.

"I come with a lot of energy and of course, experience and professionalism to deliver on the strategic plan of the coffee sector," he said in an interview.

The mandate of the UCDA is to promote and oversee the coffee industry as a whole by developing research and controlling the quality and improving coffee marketing.

New trade terms

Iyamulemye recently told New Vision that Uganda was seeking new trade terms from the International Coffee Organization (ICO) that will see it start exporting processed coffee.

“We also want the ICO to allow us to export value-added coffee and taxes that have been imposed on processed coffee exports by countries such as Germany removed,” he said.

He noted that if Uganda was exporting value-added coffee and not the green beans, its farmers would be earning more, and the charge on the volume of green coffee beans would not be considered.

“Countries which are importing coffee from Uganda pay money based on the green beans they have imported, but when they add value and export, they will earn more without paying money to ICO for that value-added coffee which they have re-exported,” he stated.

He dismissed media reports that UCDA was planning to pull out of ICO.

He, however, said that as a coffee producer, Uganda is currently discussing the new ICO agreement with other producers and importing countries of coffee so that its farmers improve their incomes.

He noted that in the new ICO agreement being drafted, they want Uganda’s coffee for example to be recognized as robusta, the bitter-tasting bean used in instant coffee and some espresso blends.

“Our coffee should be recognized as robusta, and we are sharing this position with Vietnam which is the second producer of robusta. We want the grading system to consider Uganda as the origin of robusta so that in the new agreement we can also do trade and stop promoting Brazil and Colombia,” he said.

He argued that if the grading system considers Uganda as the origin of robusta coffee, the whole world will be looking for Ugandan coffee.

“And so, we will become more competitive, but if that is not considered, other people will take credit and compete more than us,” he contended.

Uganda is the leading coffee exporting country in Africa after Ethiopia and it is well known for its production of robusta coffee taking at least 80% of the entire production and 20% Arabica coffee.

New Vision learnt that ICO is chaired by coffee producers and they are the ones leading the negotiations. “Coffee originated from Africa, and we are saying, ‘can we have a fair share of this trade?’’ Iyamulemye asked.

Uganda exported a record of more than 6 million coffee bags in the financial year 2020-2021, the highest total for 12 months in 30 years.

Exports for the financial year 2020/21 were worth $559m (more than sh1.9 trillion) compared to 5.11m bags worth $496m (about sh1.7 trillion) in the financial year 2019/20.

These figures were boosted by June’s 618,388 bags worth $58.56m (about Shs207b), which is also the highest in a single month. June exports had an increase of 47% in quantity and value compared to the previous month, with robusta figures shooting up while Arabica slowing.

“The increasing Robusta exports in June 2021 compared to the previous year were due to newly planted coffee which started yielding supported by favourable weather,” he said.

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